The death of 3,000 wasn’t enough reason for war

So there has been this number floating around my head for a few years now and I couldn’t quantify it. Finally I have a source I can quote so my outrage of going to war in Iraq can finally be put out there.

Oh I’m sure I’ve whinged before about the war. I think any war is stupid. I recall the retelling of a time during World War II when at Christmas time an informal ceasefire was declared by the combatants and people from both sides emerged from their trenches to come together in celebration of the festive season. Only to return shortly after and start killing each other again. That’s the lunacy of war. We go out and fight unnamed and unknown enemies. But through propaganda we put a scary face on it and justify the killing of thousands of innocent people.

So the catalyst for this latest war was an attack on US soil on September 11, 2001. The US lost several buildings in New York city, including the World Trade Center, saw damage to the Pentagon and a plane, Flight 93 taken down during flight. Total loss of life was around 3,000 people. Not all US Citizens.

It was an alleged* act of terrorism no one can condone. The loss of lives at the hand of another is always a senseless act and robs the world of a future that can never be reclaimed. Who knows what any one of those 3,000 people may have gone on to do with their lives that may have improved the future of mankind.

I could look at this and think what the hell, for the loss of 3,000 lives we’ve entered a war that has seen over 20,000 people on the side of the “good” lose their lives. I’m no math whiz but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t stack up. We were so indignant about the loss of 3,000 we felt we needed to waste another 20,000 to show the people we don’t like that we didn’t appreciate what they did? That doesn’t count the approx 650,000 civilians who have died on the ground in Iraq. How the fuck does that maths add up?

I could also look at this as a cost thing the US alone looks to spend over 1.9 trillion dollars on this war… TRILLIONS!

I mean it doesn’t take a rocket scientist or even a fringe dweller to figure out that if the US (and the “coalition of the willing”) spent even a little of what they spend on war the 45,000 people due to die this year won’t have to.

*fringe areas and even I at times wonder if maybe the whole attack on September 11 was really and inside job and the US Government did this to themselves. They’ve granted themselves the right to walk all over their own people by reducing the civil liberties of their citizens. They also gave themselves permission to walk into a foreign country and do what ever the heck they want to, including killing of over 650,000 citizens. Check out Loose Change 911 if you want to see what the fringe are still on about 10 years after the attack.